hey! I'm clove. I'm a human who's finishing their freshman year of high school in the middle of a pandemic. and I'm a human who's been reflecting a lot about their use of scratch lately. I've come to a few conclusions. I love scratch. I've been here since I was seven (literally more that half my life, which is insane). I have built a community here that's honestly the reason why I'm still here, 16 months into a frickin pandemic. I love the community I've built here, and I don't intend on leaving that for as long as I can. one of the parts of that community that I've built has been centered around helping other people, doing and making things for others, and creating ways for other people to interact with each other and do something fun. and I've loved that too. but honestly, recently it's felt like a drag. this whole school year it has. and I'm not loving that. so I wanted to update y'all on how I'll be using scratch from now on. this summer will probably be the same. I've got one week left of school (yay!) and then I'll have until september to be relatively free of school commitments. I do have a job this summer, but it's at a summer camp so I'll be able to check in in the afternoons. after this summer, I don't know how things will look. I'm entering my sophomore year in september. I'm taking five honors classes and one ap class, and will be going back in person to school for the first time since middle school. on top of that, I'll (hopefully) be a member of student gov, and will (again, hopefully) be preparing for an international choir tour in the summer of 2022. I won't have much time for scratch. I know I said that last fall, but I think it'll be true this time. to src humans: yes, I'm still participating this august. after that, I probably won't be able to be on the organizing side of things. to buzzy bee/bbbb humans: yes, bbbb is still happening. I scheduled the sessions to fit my schedule this summer. buzzy bee will be kept open for the summer. after that, it'll honestly probably be closed. I probably won't host any more bbbb sessions after this summer. to studio humans: yeah, I'll still be active in studios. that's the one stress-free part of scratch for me right now, and I want to keep it. so yeah. that's a lot. and it's a lot for me to process and come to terms with for me too, honestly. but I love y'all and I wanted you to know what's happening. also slightly unrelated, but in case you haven't figured it out, my identity has changed since last I officially updated - I identify as bi and demi-aroace (on the spectrum of both, but not fully either). if you've read this far, first: you're amazing. second: comment what you're planning to do this summer on this project! :) ~ clove <33
